Month Old Mead

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Stout Man

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Ok, so my mead has been going for a month now. I used EC-1118 yeast and OG was 1.151. The mead seemed to stop at about 1.034 after 15 days. On the 21st day it was at 1.028. Eight days later it was at 1.026. I figured the yeast were pretty much done at 16.8% which was under what I thought it would be. So i go ahead and add fruit, spices, and herbs with 3/8 ounce of pectic enzyme. Before this the mead was showing barely any activity. All of a sudden the mead was bubbling every 13 seconds, it used to be bubbling every 13 minutes. I thought it had to be the pectic giving off some gas or maybe something having to do with the herbs/spices I added but its been six hours now and still bubbling twice a minute. I really can't see this level of activity from anything other than the EC-1118. I did use unfiltered unpasturized raw honey. Could the pectic have suddenly freed up some sugar from the honey that was highly bonded or something? Otherwise I really don't know what is going on. And the ph is 3.9 if that can help.
 
Here is my exact recipe so far:

Primary
20# Raw Wildflower Honey
2 packages Lalvin EC-1118 Yeast

I later made a started to try to get fermentation going again but it didn't do anything

After Racking 1 time
1/4 ounce ground nutmeg
1/4 ounce Rosemary
~8 whole cloves (can't remember exactly)
2/3 ounce Fresh Basil Leaves (was 6 large and 3 small leaves)
3/8 ounce pectic enzyme
~2/3 lb strawberries for now to reach top off

I put everything that was whole in a fine cotton straining bag. It is pushed about 2-6 inches under the surface with hardly any air gap.
 
Stout Man, with the mead stopping at 16.8% and the selected yeast having an 18% tolerance the introduction of the fruit (more sugars) coupled with the introduction of oxygen probably caused it to begin fermenting again. If you havent read any of the threads about staggered nutrient addition you may want to check them out. I have noticed a marked increase in fermentation when step feeding a mead and giving it a good stir, sometimes releasing so much gas that it will boil over but then continuing a healthy ferment. RDWHAHB Good luck and let us know how it turns out.
 
While we aret alking abotu month old mead anyway, how is what I taste today :quoties: supposed :quoties" to compare to what I pitched yeast on and what I can expect when it is ready?

Of the five pilots I started a month ago the JOAM I just keep sampling an it keeps getting better, got about a quartleft.

The merlot grape pyment tasted so bad I poured it out already, way too acidic.

The carrot melomel I finally tasted today, I like it; and the hops in my first braggot are starting to mellow finally.

Should I have given the pyment more time?
 
you added fruit. that gave the yeast some nutrients and vitamins again, and their metabolism sped up.
 

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